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@Balaam_ It Just Works... the official slogan of something that absolutely does not work. 😂

@TheEstablishment I would disagree and say Xbox as a brand is at an extreme low. MS financially might be doing incredible and they might list it under "xbox" on their balance sheets, which looks great due to recent aquisitions.

But that is not the same as the Xbox brand is doing incredible. The brand awareness and global reach is the issue, not microsofts bottom line.

@x3King84 You have a very similar view to myself, I have a gaming PC and PS5 for the reason that I can play most games downstairs on the big comfy sofa infront of a big screen. For anything MS I just grab it on PC day 1. But if you really want to play Sony games day 1 then its still likely locked to the console.

For me the Xbox just has very little purpose if you have a console and a PC. Sure you could also have an Xbox and buy the game on one platform to get it on both, but I don't see any real benefit to that as you are only playing on 1 device at a time.

Going down the publisher route is the best way for them imo as they will never match Sony on sales. GP is so heavily tied to consoles that they both rise or fall together, and subs stopped growing a long time back.

Then you add in that Valve are producing a steam deck console and you get the final kicker that Valve will beat them in their own strategy to the PC in a living room machine with a much larger shared library, from a company with way more trust overall.

@trev666 Because its all the same company that has individual sites for each platforms, and when the game is coming to PS in a few months it makes sense to give players a link to their sister sites advanced preview

it no different to all three sites posting article links to Time Extension

@fatpunkslim Ofc you can give a 6/10 to a game if you feel that the substance behind the shine is not there. The review praises the style, setting, performaces, menu transitions and much more. But they conclude that behind all that shine the core gameplay of the stealth and combat is not good enough.

@RamiBalek "What concerns me is that this website, and other Xbox fans website, should be a positive force to the Xbox brand. By giving all major exclusives 4s and 6s it does quite the opposite and people always use this to discredit the brand."

All sites should gives games the review they feel its deserves or reviews are pointless. They just felt the last two games were not great. Suggesting they should review all Xbox games higher because they are an Xbox website is certainly a take.

The review reads fairly as it was always going to be a divisive game. First person vs Third Person has been brought up for months and it was always going to take something incredible to really convince people that they made the right choice. Forced basic stealth dragging on to long is also another thing that player regularly hate in games so is fair to be called out.

Maybe for some 6 is to low and some feel it should have been a more generous 7. By the same token it sounds like other sites giving it a 9 or 10 are to generous, so it all balances out in the end.

@HonestHick the amount WoW makes on transmogs and mounts is disgusting, they recently dropped a $90 mount. Its predatory fomo at its worst imo, but it will sell and it will generate them plenty of cash in the long run.

The only hope I had for the buyout was that we would see less transactions in the game but its safe to say I was pretty naive there.

@CadErik The reality of the SE situation however is so far all they have really offered is words, but nothing to back them up. FF14 made sense to bring over as its an mmo and its a constant cash churn. But out side of talk there has been no action on the bigger single player titles yet, and they are the ones people want.

More people being able to player 7 / 16 would be great, but until they deliver its currently just words.

That is both hideous and incredible... so much so that I think I like it

The continued nonsense about an Xbox tax is utter nonsense, The game was rated low by an xbox reviewer, on an xbox fan site.. He is hardly biased to Sony. Starfield was also rated higher by a chunk of reviewers than it should have been based on averages.. or was that an Xbox tax rebate? If you look at multi plat games I find this site is often 1 point higher than their sister sites for reviews. So no the Xbox tax is not real, its just copium for fans.

As for games being marked down for being broken on launch, good they should be. If you want us to accept games being broken on launch and fixed later fine, but sell us the game at £40 and only raise the price to £70 once you fixed everything.

@Banjo- Also I really do not understand this continued narrative that Sony has abandoned the PSVR2 as its simply nonsense. it seems like the entire basis for abandoning it was the news that most first party studios are making PS5 games, and not VR games.

That was always going to be the case as VR is always going to have a smaller user base. The first party games they did make where top tier and there are loads of high quality 3rd party games releasing regularly also.

Not to mention now its bedded in they have started adding VR2 games to premium every month, which shows they have not just abandoned it.

Personally I think VR2 is brilliant and can't imagine playing certain games without it ever again. RE4 for example was incredible, and having to play normally for the Seperate Ways highlighted how transformative it can be for gaming. I don't think I could go back now and Im just glad I have the option of being able to use VR.

@Banjo- With the portal I feel like a lot of that stuff was left out mainly to keep the price down to promote sales. You can use the inbuilt sound, or any wired set, or you can use any bluetooth set if you get a bluetooth jack. You are not solely limited to any one headset.

It just seems a weird issue to have when the majority of headsets will work on the PS5 but you need the Xbox version to get it working on Xbox. Likewise Xbox with those silly expansion cards rather than just allowing users to fit an m2 drive. Both companies have always done questionable things, but Vita was a long time ago and things have changed loads since then.

I think for the device they would make it so the games simply work on the device without every game requiring patches, in the same way the PS5 can play 4 games without everygame being patched. I am pretty sure it would be managable in the timescale they have as we are probably talking 12-18m minimum

@Banjo- How do you mean when you say restrictive? I think it will both companies will deliver a device that plays current gen (Series /5) and previous gen games and be download only.

Given that next gen will likely be very cross gen, like this current one, they should both have a device that launches with a large catalogue of backwards compatible games.

@Banjo- I tend to use youtube for follow up review in those scenarios because I can understand why outlets such as PX, PS, IGN don't have the time to go back and re-review a game based on patches.

I also agree that games being rated higher is an issues because we are now at the point where unless a game is 8, 9 or 10 then its basically dead on arrival to most people. 7 is mid, 6 is poor and anything lower is just garbage. Its essentially means all games are marked out of 5 because most reviewers are reluctant to use the bottom end of the scale. There are games on all platforms that suffer from being given 9s or 10s when they should really be 8s, and it feels like its to get them into the "good score range".

I have not played SM2 yet so can't comment on that but I imagine I would be more forgiving or reused content as Spiderman is one of my all time favourite Marvel characters, so personal bias will come in. For Zelda I have not played BotW or TotK as they lost me on the new games, I watched a mate play them and they just felt like they had lost the soul of the older Zelda games that i grew up with.

I think part of the problem is that reviewers have also started largely ignoring bugs in a lot of reviews on the basis that it will get fixed at some point, so when you get a review that removes marks for bugs people get more irate over the score.

Bethesda games always have the usual bethesda janky bugs but reviewers ignore them because its bethesda. Personally I think thats just as bad because it creates a standard where bugs become the norm and accepted. So personally I prefer reviews that do knock marks off for rough performance, because that should be the point of the review.

@Dalamar73 I think the most expensive game I bought for it was Mayhem in Monsterland and it was pricey because it was not initially available in stores if I recall and was mail order only via the C64 magazine.

That said it was one hell of a game

@Dalamar73 Heading to John Menzies newsagents to check out the games for my Commodore 64. It mad to think how they used to be one of the main places for games before actual game shops became popular.

Really hope this is good because I imagine the action style will make the world more interesting than PoE did. The games where not bad but I found the world to be very bland with races that just didn't feel super interesting overall.

@StylesT Reviews exist to help inform potential buyers wether they should part with their hard earned money, or not. Its on companies to make sure that review copies reflect the launch version and are available in plenty of time for reviewers to give a fair critique of the whole game.

If a game has an embargo 2 hours before launch on a game that required multiple massive launch patches to fix because the review copies where buggy then studios need to work to better timeframes and not just expect reviews to come in 2 weeks after they are required.

This is not a critique against Stalker, GSM or any platform but should be the standard we push for from all games /studios.

@Banjo- The problem with your arguement is that you are focussing on 6.8% and assuming that figure correlates exactly to the opinion you have formed. People are very capable of buying a console for 1st party exclusives, but also buying more multiplatform games overall.

@GamingFan4Lyf Lets be honest, If the situation was reversed then Microsoft would do the same and do everything in their power to strangle PS out of the market. The only reason they are starting to walk it back is because they are in a much weaker position at present so multiplatform whilst focussing on being a publisher makes sense. If they had the market lead then they would be doing PC / Xbox only and holding everything back.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Yeah I would also hope FS stay multiplat as the games deserve to be played by all regardless of the long history they have with Sony machines.

@dskatter or if you are willing to use their launcher. My PC is a PC, its no more an Xbox than it is a Playstation just because I can play GoW on it.

The whole "This is an Xbox" marketting push won't do great imo

This was always going to happen more once MS was greenlit for the biggest aquisition in history. Anyone who was cheerleading for one side was naive if they didn't think it would push others to follow suit.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner I may be remembering wrong but don't Sony also own or have a big interest in Crunchyroll? Which would make sense if they can take more of the anime market.

@OldGamer999 The PC specs for it are pretty wild also, you are talking a 4070 for recommended settings so it will be interesting to see how it translates to console.

@OldGamer999 rumours online are saying the review embargo is 2 hours before release.

@GamingFan4Lyf I don't currently have a GP sub, I did have one but cancelled as they had very few game I wanted to play. But if they did a something like a combined GP PC / GP WoW sub for a discounted £16 then I would likely be interested.

And I imagine it would give WoW a substansial boost in players.

@GeeForce Yeah the One was doing well so they did a mid gen upgrade to trade on its success, the Series is not selling as well so they will skip.

The not needed arguement is a silly one as its entirely subjective based on individual choice. You could say the Series X is not needed as the S exists. The 4090 is not needed as a 4080 / 4070 exists. The Pro Max 16 is not needed as the 16 exists.

The only question is if someone personally finds value in something.

@carlos82 Its not about it being a cash grab, Its the size of the user base this generation. The serie console sales are low so less potetial for sales of a new model. Basically its not worth the R&D or production costs. EDIT: Tagged the wrong people the worng way round

@GamingFan4Lyf Indeed, The simple fact that its appeared on the Battlenet account and you can still use your GP for some games on that launcher / store makes me think its even more likely that in future we will see some form of GP WoW to roll all the subscribers into the GP family to boost the numbers as traditional subs are staying level now.

@Wisegamer Battlenet is also 1000 times better than the Xbox launcher which is stil hot garbage at best. I think it stems from the fact that the ship it as standard with windows so put zero effort into making it a quality platform.

@GamingFan4Lyf When you say about MS getting 100% of the revenue it brings up and interesting facet of it being on Battlenet. At the Auction House in WoW you can buy the Wow token for in game gold and convert it to battlenet balance which you can then use to buy games on the store. I was raiding last night and there where already people interested because the game is going to be free for them due to how easy it is to get gold in WoW.

@Coletrain Thats the biggest issue with streaming imo, I am also UK based and our internet is just not there in a lot of areas and even if you can get amazing speeds the costs are so high that its not really worth it.

I get companies feel streaming is the future, but as long as consoles exist I reckon they will be dominant for a long time compared to cloud stuff.

Seems a very bad way of doing it because it assumes that every subscriber is interested in checking out every title regardless of genre. Obviously this is better for the shareholders as it keeps subs up via engagement, but as a gamer I think they should drop when ready which would be better for the players.

All this confirms is Phil can't say anything, which means its far more likely an announcement is due at the game awards or similar. Its a standard press response to say nothing in any media industry, even when its clear something is happening. You always wait for the official announcement and act coy about the whole thing.

@Balaam_ I think Doom on a sex toy is still the peak of innovation. More enjoyable haptics than anything else out there.

@Titntin "a TV friendly PC with a bespoke games OS"

Even that is basically a steam box using Steam OS or the much older big picture mode they originally had. I think you would have to narrow the category further for it to be more revellant.

@Fiendish-Beaver I reckon you are right in that it will not be to dissimilar to the PS5 Pro, especially if its delivered in 2026. I wonder if the marketting BS speech is in part because the Pro and Base 5 sit in the same generation, so by not having a pro model MS can claim the biggest leap. Especially when coupled with the fact that they can arguably choose where the goalposts are placed.

@Banjo- You should enjoy DS then as it does have a very realistic feel despite being sci-fi. Things like strict weight limits, weight affecting speed and balance, and even how long it can take to build stuff all really elevate the game.

You are right its very divisive and not for everyone but its one of the best games I played this year and if you have a fancy TV it really does look stunning. For £20 it worth anyones time.

@Banjo- Its a very good game and you can tell its using some of the ideas from how MGSV played, but I would say it feels completely unique and unlike any other game. But providing you enjoyed the open nature of just wandering then it should land well.

@Utena-mobile One of the stand outs for me was Siren Blood Curse, It took me so long to get into the game as it was just so different to anything else. But once I got going it felt far more like the classic Silent Hill games where it was about constent tension rather than just scary moment or overwhelming moments.

So my guessing with regarding to the WC3 patch was slightly wrong, but along the right lines and we are getting the older games redone for the 30 anniversary

Not sure why they are doing 2 instead of 1 & 2, What is it with remasters being done out of order or straight up skipping games.

Imagine if PX could just ban every account who gave the game a 1. Since it does seem a pretty easy way to identify the terminally online troll chuds we would all be better off without.

DA has never been my go to franchise of choice as they changed style after Origins, but I may play the game at some point. Regardless the more choice and inclusivity the better as gaming should be for all, and not held back by weak people who are terrified of anything that challenges their world view.

@Utena-mobile I think the likeness is more in the style of monster, Its that unique japanese body / creature horror that If people find appealing they will enjoy, even if the gameplay is unique. It just hits differently to the western horror of jump scares and torture porn, and gunning everything down like your rambo on halloween.

@GeeEssEff Spot on, Sony will continue exactly as they are doing now where the odd indie drops day 1 with PS+ but they will continue to sell mainline titles. Both platforms subscriptions plateaued a while back and the only way for them to keeping move the shareholder line up is get more subscribers or raise prices, and we all know its always going to be the latter.

In all other industries we are seing sub services decline in quality, increase in price as the market bloats with more and more platforms all wanting a pieceof your wallet. Gaming subs are no different, despite how many want to hope theirs will win because they fanboi their favourite colour logo.

@JonBoyJ Just taken a glance at that and it is worrying that they read so differently. I do tend to find this site over eggs anything 1st party by 1 star (sometimes 2) on their reviews so it will be interesting to see where it falls.

@freddones Whilst I agree that reviews on sales platforms should only include people who have bought the game, them buying the game does not make a review more valid than a professional reviewer who received a free copy as part of their job. Sunk cost can impact review bias just as much as zero cost, both negatively and positively depending on the game and the reviewer.

Also it doesn''t adress the fact that Steam reviews are still poor as they simply come down to good game / bad game rather than the more nuanced levels of scoring out of 10 for example.

The amount of time you see reviews of Steam where its 300hrs played and bad game highlights the problem with binary scores. If a game is bad then no one would play it for 300hrs, so clearly it has some redeeming factors.

I will give it a better look when it releases but I am not sold on it being first person view and the screenshot above with the whip is doing nothing to convince me otherwise. If the game came with a VR mode then 1st person would be brilliant for combat and traversal, but for flatscreen It should really be over the shoulder imo.

@freddones Steam reviews are a terrible metric due to the binary Good or Bad system they use. Its about time they shelved it and went to a rating system which reflects the true score.

I have watched people play this normally and don't even want to imagine playing it in VR. That seems like a sure fire way to have a heart attack.